This is the second book I've read by this author. I loved STAY AWAKE but found that, although this one was a very good thriller, it wasn't as great as that book. I guessed all the twists very early, but I enjoyed the descriptions of podcasters and social media influencers.

The story follows Rachel Krall, the popular podcaster of "Guilty or Not Guilty" a podcast that has helped wrongly accused criminals. The FB summons Rachel to Florida to meet with Terence Bailey, an inmate who has requested to see her. Bailey is due to be released shortly but was suspected of serial killings of young women which there wasn't enough proof to convict him. They sentenced him after a minor crime in the hope that they could find evidence to tie him into the murders. However, after they admitted him, the serial killings continued, which led the FBI to believe that Bailey was working with an accomplice.

The FBI agent working the case informs Rachel that the last person to visit Bailey in prison was Maddison Logan, a social media influencer. During that visit, Bailey asked Maddison to bring him Rachel Krall. Rachel has no idea why, but the FBI needs to know because Maddison disappeared after seeing Bailey and a body is found near her trailer that is thought to be hers.

Chapters alternate between Rachel's story and that of a strange rideshare driver with a condition that causes him to give off an unpleasant odor. Is this man somehow connected with Terence Bailey?

Against Agent Martinez' advice to head home when more bodies turn up and Bailey leaves Rachel a threatening message before his release, Rachel does her own investigation into Maddison's disappearance that leads her into attending a conference of social media influencers. I found this part humorous, as it showed how obsessed some people can be with social media.

There are several twists that follow along with a budding romantic relationship for Rachel, but I felt these were all obvious. I liked the book and recommend it but felt it didn't live up to STAY AWAKE. If you haven't read that, start with this one. .

Rachel Krall is back in this mystery. The FBI tempts Rachel with a new case. When an influencer goes missing after meeting with an inmate, the FBI wants to know how Rachel is involved . Rachel is pushed off the case when things get dangerous but that doesn’t stop her from investigating. Rachel participates in an influencer conference to track down the mystery of Maddison’s life, her connection to Bailey and her disappearance.

I thoroughly enjoy podcast elements in books. I find the true crime investigation adds a nice angle to a mystery.
For some reason, the mystery in this story left we underwhelmed.. Maybe the difference was this was an active mystery versus a cold case? One of the POV was a potential bad guy involved in the disappearance and murder of women. I prefer my villains to be less obvious. The reveals in this were mostly expected. This might be a mystery for readers who prefer seeing the work involved in finding the killer instead. I want more puzzle and suspense in my mystery.

OVerall, much of this is spent in the influencer world. I found myself very uninterested in these sections. The people and lifestyle presented were wasteful, superficial and obsessed with self image.

I really enjoy Megan Goldin’s writing and look forward to reading her next book. This one kept me entertained but didn’t’ wow me.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for this Advanced Reader’s Copy. Another thriller from Megan Goldin, this time with a reprisal from Rachel Krall (podcaster from Goldin’s previous book: The Night Swim). I enjoyed this one a lot, plenty of twists (of varying predictability) and my one complaint was that the ending was very abrupt. Will we see a third Rachel Krall install in the future? I hope so!

This book is about Rachel Krall, a famous true crime podcaster helping the FBI search for Maddison Logan, The mystery has perfect pacing, slowly revealing clues and secrets as you read. It ends with everything wrapped up and there are no court scenes. If you love mysteries I recommend you read this one!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy.

Loved!!! I recently finished The Escape Room by Megan Gold in which earned 3 stars from me. It was a page turner but the plot crumbled for me by the last 50 pages or so. But Dark Corners was everything that I wanted it to be! A consistent story with a decent follow through, interesting characters, events that kept everything moving along at a steady pace, this wasn't missing anything for me. Except another book with Rachel. I will be picking up Night Swim and start the book which I hope was only the beginning of a long series.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this.

I love Rachel Krall!!! She is such an excellent character. She is well written and doesn't come off as "well I am a reporter so let me do all the stupid things" like some characters can be in mysteries and thrillers.
This book was amazing. The plot flowed and the different POVs intertwined with the podcast chapters helped with that flow.
You have a lot of questions as you read but everything gets answered in the end and there is a surprise twist.
The only thing negative I have to say is...the end felt a little rush. That's it.
I would recommend this and hope to see more Rachel Krall books.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this book. This review is entirely my own.

Being sent a widget for one of my favourite authors was so thrilling and it makes this little bookworm's heart so happy when you receive these from publishers. I previously had enjoyed The Night Swim by Megan Goldin and I remember being very enthralled and immersed in the story and how it developed.

Dark Corners was no different and I was hooked immediately. I enjoyed having a continuation of Rachel Krall and would love to see a continuation and it turns into a regular series. The podcast timeline is one of my favourite parts of reading both of these books and I can just hear Rachel's voice doing the podcast. There is something about crime podcasts and documentaries that intrigue me so much. I am a die hard Dateline girl. This book was very much up my crime/thriller alley and I really can't wait to crack the next case with Rachel and hopefully more of Joe as well. Also can we just give a huge shoutout to the creepy serial killer with the very distinctive smell disorder. That was chef's kiss...

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to review Dark Corners.

My reviews can be found on Goodreads: Nikki- Hedwig's and Hopes
Instagram- @hedwigsandhopes

I love Megan Goldin books and was thrilled to be sent her new book to read before release. I enjoy the character Rachel Krall and was glad she made an appearance in another book.

Rachel, a famous true crime podcaster, is called in by the FBI to assist in an investigation. She gets pulled in and ends up helping in several different murder cases. I loved the touches of the influencer lifestyle from the conference Rachel attends to help get more information. A fast paced read, with several twists and turns. Loved the romance that was sprinkled in as well. I hope Rachel makes an appearance in future books!

Loved this one, you find out early on who the villain is, but it still kept me so engrossed and turning pages quickly.

This was my first Megan Goldin read and I will definitely be back for more!
While I thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters, I don’t feel like much really happened. Everything that did happen, I could see coming and it was like it finally started happening and then it was over. There were also a few spelling and grammatical errors that pulled me out of the story.
I enjoyed the character development and multiple POVs, it definitely added depth to the story.
Overall, I would recommend reading this one if you love slow burn crime thrillers!

3.5 stars- overall this was pretty good. The plot picked up quickly and kept a good pace throughout the book. I could have done with less influencer detail but that was only a portion of the book.

One thing I couldn’t get past was the description of the area around Daytona… a ridge and overlook are mentioned and if you know that area you know it’s completely flat (like the rest of Florida).

Thank you St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the ARC!

After a brief meeting with an inmate in a correctional facility in Florida, famous influencer Maddison Logan disappears without a trace. The name Rachel Krall (true crime podcast host who we met in The Night Swim) had come up during their conversation- a fact that prompts the FBI to fly Rachel in, not quite revealing all the relevant details. The soon-to-be-released inmate, Terence Bailey, though incarcerated for B&E, is a suspect in the murders of six women, though the FBI is yet to prove their case. When a meeting between Bailey and Rachel ends with Bailey’s veiled threats directed towards Rachel, the FBI sensing that Bailey might target Rachel requests her to fly back home.

Rachel decides to do some investigating of her own and joins the social influencer conference being held nearby, which Maddison was supposed to be attending. As an insider, she is privy to a lot more information on the attendees as compared to the investigators in charge of the case. As the narrative progresses, we find Rachel doggedly pursuing every lead possible in unearthing the truth behind Maddison’s disappearance and her connection to Terence Bailey, while also gathering more information about the other victims of the serial killer. Will Rachel be able to help the FBI find Maddison before she becomes the next victim?

I was intrigued from the very beginning and enjoyed how the mystery unfolded as the story progressed. The author’s depiction of the world of social media influencers - narcissism, cliques, rivalries and politics – was quite detailed. I won’t say that I enjoyed reading those parts much, but I do understand that those segments were vital to the story, though I wish they had been shorter. We see Rachel evolving both as a professional and as a person. She is depicted as more gritty, stubborn and outspoken as compared to The Night Swim. Though she does not feature this case as a series on her podcast as she did with her previous case, we do get to read the transcript for her Special Report on the case which is interspersed throughout the narrative. With its suspenseful and engaging narrative and multiple twists and red herrings that lead to a satisfying ending, I quite enjoyed Dark Corners by Megan Goldin.

Many thanks to the author Megan Goldin, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the much-appreciated digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The book is due to be released on August 08, 2023.

I was very excited to dive into this one after loving The Night Swim and Stay Awake from this author, and this did not disappoint. It was very fast paced with twists and turns to keep me guessing. I wish there had been a little more of the podcast piece that made The Night Swim so great, but I still enjoyed this one! 4/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is set to publish on August 8, 2023.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this eARC of Dark Corners!

I picked this book because I really liked The Night Swim and was excited to see more of Rachel Krall and this book did not disappoint.

I thought I had it figured out right away but I did not. I did figure it out before the big reveal but not much earlier.
I loved the sass from Rachel this time and am excited to see how the next one goes

Whew, what a book! This is the sequel to, The Night Swim (see previous post for my review on that). Rachel is such a likeable character, I was so happy to see another book with her as the main character.

This book had so many things happening. A ride share serial killer with a BO medical condition, an accused serial killer locked up that has some connection to the other, a social media vlogger that goes missing during an influencer awards, a hot fbi agent and of course our favorite podcaster Rachel. How do all of these moving pieces connect? The end will rock you.

I know the NetGalley copy, was unedited. So I’m hoping, the author does like the night swim, where she lists at the top of each chapter whose POV you are reading about. There were a lot of characters and I just found, that it took me a minute to realize whose POV I was reading. Other than that, this was a fantastic sequel and I hope there are more Rachel books in the future.

Mystery/Thriller

I love these characters and this series! More please!

Rachel Krall is a true crime podcaster. The FBI asks her to come to Florida to meet with a prisoner - Terrence Bailey. He mentioned her name in a taped conversation. He is getting out in a few days and they have reason to believe he is a serial killer. The FBI wants to see what Rachel can get out of him.

When she arrives, she learns that there is more to the Terrence Bailey story than she was led to believe. Her meeting with Bailey doesn't result in anything forthcoming, but Rachel's study of Terrence's crime leads her down a rabbit hole of missing girls, murder victims and possibly an innocent prisoner. Krall became famous when she researched an old case and found a convicted felon to be innocent. Could this be another one of those cases? Or is Terrence just better at hiding his crimes?

The layers of plot to this story are just incredible. It's complicated but very easy to follow at the same time. After a while, I new where one angle of the story was probably going to go, but it didn't matter because I was enjoying every minute of this novel. There is a possible love interest for Rachel that gets introduced in this book, which helped round out her character. The interaction with these characters will hopefully continue into future books in the series. It should make for some interesting book angles.

I adored everything about this book and cannot wait for more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this novel.

This is the second book to feature podcaster Rachel Krall. In Dark Corners, Rachel receives a call from the FBI asking her to come to a Florida prison to interview an inmate. The inmate, serving a 6 year sentence for burglary, is scheduled to be released in 2 days, but the police have long suspected him as a serial killer. For unknown reasons, the inmate, during a visit from a popular social media influencer, requested that the influencer convince Rachel to see him in prison. The influencer disappears the next day. I loved the Rachel Krall character in the previous book, but her role here gets lost amidst all the other characters, and there’s a heavy dose of the world of social media influencers, which was a bit tedious. A decent read, but the ending was so abrupt I thought I was missing a few pages. I received an arc of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Podcaster? Sigh
Influencer? Double sigh.
...two of the stupidest words and professions ever. (The ONLY "podcast" I want to listen to is "Only Murders in the Building" thank you very much...and don't get me started on "Book Tok".or why "The Bachelor" is still on TV!)

Diatribe aside, this was an enjoyable book and the second in a series by an author I adore. (I am now going to re-read all her books so that shows how much I loved this book. Great characters, a gripping story and enough snark to make me seriously happy. (Rachel seems to be in a terrible mood in this book: I know the feeling!)

This is a sequel to Night Swim but you don't need to have read it to enjoy this book - it is great on its own and I will highly recommend it far and wide.

#shortbutsweetreviews

Yet another winner from Megan Goldin!
The second book in the series did not disappoint in any way. I loved the podcast format, the switch of the story from present day to the slow podcast reveals, leaving me wondering how exactly the story would play out!

Another book that’s part of a series that I wasn’t aware of … not sure if I’m not reading into it enough or if it’s just not being showcased, but it would be great to know when a book is part of a series vs. a stand-alone.

That being said, I still enjoyed this story. Thriller/mystery novels will suck me in every time and this one was no different.

I also enjoy the “relatable” content (the podcast and internet pieces). Not that I think all stories need to have something like this, but it helps it feel like a modern-day story, and that allows readers to immerse themselves even more, in my opinion.